Lost
by Aki Griffin
Summary: Tyler is lost, and has no idea how to find himself. Kinda but not really slash


Title: Lost

Chapter: one shot

Author: Griffin Maxwell

Fandom: Covenant

Pairing: None, or all, however you wanna see it

Rating: pg-13

Summery: Tyler is lost, and has no idea how to find himself.

Warnings: slight slashyness, self-destructive tendencies

Notes:

Disclaimer: Not mine, deal.

Dedication: Lindsey, because she asked for it. And at the same time, not dedicated to her, because she made me not do my homework for this. Just kidding 3

"I can't find him!"

"Can't find who, Reid?" Caleb asked, trying to keep his attention on the road. They were the first words out of Reid's mouth after he answered the phone, but there was an urgency that Caleb couldn't ever remember hearing before.

"Tyler! He's missing!"

"He's probably out taking a walk or something, Reid."

"His jacket his still here! And why would he walk in a blizzard, anyways?"

"Christ, Reid. Calm down. Maybe he went down to break into the dinning hall or something."

"I checked. Anyways, he wouldn't do that without me! We always do that together. Jesus, his cell and keys are still here, no one has seen him for the past few hours. He never leaves without his cell phone, and it's freezing out, and what if Chase is back and took him, what if he's hurt!"

"Reid! Calm the hell down. When did you last see him?" Caleb had pulled over. He had to admit, Tyler being unreachable was unusual.

"Swim practice, so…" Reid paused to think, "five hours ago? Maybe a little less?"

Caleb sighed. "Keep searching the school, okay? I'll call Pogue and we'll take the town."

"Hey, Caleb? He's been acting…off recently, hasn't he? Was it just me?"

Caleb thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, he has been acting a little different these last few weeks. Distant?"

"We have to find him, Caleb."

"We'll call you if we find anything."

Pogue sped through the woods on his bike, Using to push snow out of the way as he went. It had been nearly an hour since him and Caleb had started their search, and so far there had been no luck. The freezing wind hurt even the unexposed parts of his body and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the search much longer. He had once last place to look before he would call Caleb. It was hard searching in a blizzard and he has pretty much lost hope of finding the youngest covenant that night.

He stopped his bike near the cliffs over looking the Marblehead lighthouse. His eyes scanned the area and at first he didn't see anything. Then he noticed a figure sitting on the ground, just barely visible through the falling snow.

"Tyler!" he called, but his voice was lost to the wind. He ran over to find Tyler staring blankly out over the water, legs curled up to his chest and chin resting on his knees. Pogue kneeled down beside him and brushed some of the snow off of Tyler's head. Tyler's lips had started to turn blue, but he wasn't shivering, which he no doubt should have considering he had been sitting there in just a sweatshirt and jeans for what must have been hours.

Tyler's eyes slowly turned to meet Pogue's. "You came looking for me…" he said softly. Pogue had to strain to hear it.

"Of course I did. Caleb and Reid have been looking, too." He could see tears start to form in Tyler's eyes. "Come on, baby boy. Let's get you to Caleb's, maybe we can even prevent you from getting sick."

"Too late," Tyler muttered as Pogue helped him up. He put Tyler's arm around his neck and held it there, using his free hand to take out his cell and call Caleb.

"I found him. Can we meet you and Reid at you're house? … Because it will be easier to warm him up there then in the dorms. … Okay, we'll be there in ten." Pogue hung up and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. "You think you have enough energy to hold on during the ride?"

Tyler shrugged.

"That's not good enough." He helped Tyler onto the bike and then slid on behind him. He wrapped one arm around the younger boy's waist and using the other one to steer, they were off.

Pogue pulled his bike into Caleb's driveway just as Caleb and Reid were getting out of the car. Reid's eyes widened when he saw Tyler.

"Oh, god. What happened to him?"

"Think he was just in the snow to long. Let's get him warmed up. Help me get him inside."

Reid rushed over and pulled one of Tyler's arms over his shoulder as Pogue did the same. The blank stare his best friend gave him was one of the scariest things he had ever seen.

It was difficult, but they finally managed to get Tyler into the living room and onto the couch. Caleb had already disappeared into the kitchen and Pogue went upstairs to find some of Caleb's warmer clothes for Tyler to wear. That left Reid with the job of starting a fire and bundling Tyler up in a blanket, trying to warm the frozen skin.

"What's gotten in to you, baby boy?" he muttered softly.

Soon the other two came back. Pogue managed to get Tyler out of his wet clothes and into Caleb's warm ones, but when Caleb offered him hot chocolate and soup, Tyler quickly refused.

"Come on, Tyler. You need to get something warm in you." Caleb put the back of his hand on Tyler's forehead. "He's burning up."

"'m fine."

"No you're not! Tyler! I don't know what the fuck's wrong with you, but you need to tell us what's going on so we can help!"

"Reid! Stop," Caleb snapped, before turning back to Tyler who now had tears rolling down his cheeks. "Come on, baby boy. Please don't cry."

Tyler murmured something that none of them could understand.

"What?" Pogue prodded gently.

"What do you guys care?"

The three older boys looked at each other, shocked, then turned back to Tyler.

"Tyler," Caleb said softly. "What are you talking about?"

Tyler didn't say anything at first, just stared into the fire. "I know you guys only keep me around because I'm in the Covenant." His body started shaking. From finally feeling the cold or from the spilling of emotion, none of them could tell. "I know you two only keep me around because you feel you need to, that you have the responsibility to. I know you," he nodded at Reid, but didn't look at him, "just put up with me because I do pretty much anything you say. I've been denying it…"

Before anyone could stop him, Reid slapped him across the face, before practically falling on top of him, hugging him. "Why the fuck would you think that, Tyler?" he cried. Caleb and Pogue watched for a few moments before sitting on either side of the two.

"Those are the only times you pay any attention to me…"

Pogue looked up at Caleb. "That is kinda true…"

They sat around in silence for awhile, each one deep in their own thoughts.

"Ty?" Caleb finally said. "How long have you been feeling like this? I mean, this strongly about it?"

Tyler shrugged. "A few weeks?"

"Right after Chase?"

Tyler shrugged again.

"Right after Sarah…" Reid muttered.

"We've known each other all our lives but… you guys haven't ever bothered to really know me. Not lately, at least."

"Are there new things to know, Tyler?" Caleb asked softly.

"Doesn't matter."

Reid moved so that he was straddling Tyler, put his hands on the couch next to each side of his head and stared him right in the eyes. "Yes it does. Tyler, I'm sorry we don't pay attention to you. We thought that's how you liked it. And it was stupid of us to think that. But we love you. Covenant be fucked, we'd still love you. You could argue with every fucking thing I said and I'd still love you. Look at Caleb for proof of that one." The joke didn't get a reaction out of Tyler. "They keep you safe because they love you. I keep you around because I love you. You're my best friend, Tyler."

"We should have paid more attention. I'm sorry, Tyler." Caleb ran a hand through Tyler's still drying hair. "It won't happen again."

"What don't we know, Ty?" Pogue asked softly.

Tyler didn't say anything at first. It wasn't until Reid opened his mouth to repeat Pogue's question that Tyler answered. "Important things."

"Like what, Ty?" Caleb asked.

Again Tyler was silent. The seconds dragged on. "I'm gay, for one."

"So? I knew that," Reid said.

"What?"

"Baby boy, we've been living together for three and a half years, known each other for nearly seventeen years, you think I wouldn't notice you're lack of interest in girls? The fact you never had a girlfriend, or flirted with a girl? If I thought it was important, don't you think I would have pushed you to tell me?"

Tyler looked up at Caleb. "Did you know, too?"

Caleb looked at Pogue, then back at Tyler. "We suspected, but figured it was none of our business, and if it was true and you wanted us to know, you'd tell us."

"You don't care?"

"Tyler, we all come from families that were persecuted, even killed, for who they were. You think we'd carry on that kind of hate?"

Tyler looked up at Pogue and shrugged.

"Anything else?" Reid asked.

Yet again Tyler sat silent for a bit. "I cut…" he whispered.

"What?"

"I-"

"I know what you said. Why? Where? How come we've never seen the scars?" Reid rambled until Pogue punched him in the shoulder.

"Shut up. Let him talk."

"I…um…Use to get rid of any marks. I…I started because I wanted someone to notice I was hurting…but I chickened out and got rid of the marks. Then I just kept doing it. I couldn't…can't stop."

Reid dropped his weight so that he was pretty much lying on top of Tyler, arms tight around his neck. "I feel like a jerk. We shared a room and I never even noticed!"

"I did it after you were asleep so you wouldn't know. I didn't want you to notice."

"How did I not fucking notice…?" Reid muttered to himself.

"Tyler. Tyler, look at me." Caleb waited until Tyler complied to continue. "We love you no matter what, okay? We want you to come to us with any problems. And we were stupid enough to just assume you knew that. And we should have tried to find out what was wrong when you started to withdraw. This is our fault as much as anything." Tyler shook his head. "Tyler, please let us in? And keep us in?"

Tyler shrugged.

"Tyler…"

"Fine. Okay."

Caleb placed a kiss on Tyler's temple, then went to feel his forehead again. "You're still hot. Still feel cold?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm going to go reheat the soup. Pogue, you know where the medicine cabinet is right? Can you get him some Tylenol for the fever?"

"Yeah, sure." He, too, gave Tyler a peck on his temple before standing up and following Caleb out.

Reid didn't move from his seat in Tyler's lap, his head now buried in Tyler's neck as his body shook. "Reid? Are you crying?"

"I just don't ever want to lose you. You're my best friend, I love you and don't know what I would do without you. I don't want to lose you."

Tyler didn't reply, but wrapped his arms around Reid's waist, feeling bad that now he was pulling other's down with him.


End file.
